


Bloodshed and Spite

by auralikh



Series: Judaryuu Reverse AU [2]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Study, Establishing Relationship Tensions, M/M, Visualizing Murder, reverse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 07:48:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18890290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auralikh/pseuds/auralikh
Summary: Caacrinolaas, the Djinn of Bloodshed and Spite. His bitterness poisons all the waters he touches, a fitting first metal vessel for Judar. Except he doesn't seem to particularly like Judar or his magi-prince, Hakuryuu.





	Bloodshed and Spite

Judar’s metal vessel is being a bitch to wield. Sure, it makes his spear look all shiny and edgy, the blade dripping with a clear, water-like liquid that could paralyze or kill a man with a small cut, but anyone could get to that level with a metal vessel almost instantly. This is some baby level djinn powers, the kind of thing that someone would use when they want to conserve their magoi for the real battle. But he wants the real thing, the real power of letting the djinn’s magic consume him, embody him.  

“Djinn of Bloodshed and Spite, dwell in me- eugh, fuck this!” Judar slashes the tree closes to him in frustration. The wound pales into white as foam bubbles up where the sap would be and starts to spread through the bark and inside the tree trunk. Venom drips from the point of the blade and leaves small puddles of dead grass below him. 

“That tree’s supposed to be four hundred years old. People are going to be upset.”

Judar holds the spear up in a resting position and forces the venom to stop, freezing the drips of venom into icicles that hang off the base end of the blade. He stares right at what looks like empty space and thin air, “You’re one to talk, Hakuryuu. How much of this palace has been rebuilt again and again because of what you did? And why are you even making yourself invisible right now? I thought that wasn’t your style.”

The air and the scenery ahead of him waver as the illusion dissolves and Hakuryuu’s standing not far from him. “It’s practice. I’m working on my light magic. Sometimes it’s good to use something besides sheer force.”

Judar laughs so much he almost falls back on his spear, “Wh- you? Using something besides sheer force? You got the delicacy of a mutated war elephant that’s out for revenge! What can you even do with light, I mean I guess you could burn people with it but that’s much easier to do with fire.”

Hakuryuu huffs and crosses his arms, “I could say the same about you and how you’re wielding Caacrinolaas. Just watching you makes me cringe.”

“What are you talking about? I’m just warming up!” Judar readies himself in a lunging stance and the toxic waters swirl around the blade of the spear, “Come on, fight me! The djinn equip will come easily if I have an actual target!”

Hakuryuu gives the spear a look before looking Judar straight in the eyes. 

“Hm. No.”

“What.”

“I said no.” Hakuryuu walks closer, barely dodging the blade and the ring of toxic water around it. He pat Judar on the shoulder with a firm grip. “Caacrinolaas didn’t particularly like my involvement. Which just means you’ll have to figure this out yourself.”

Judar groans, “Don’t remind me.”

_ “You’re more like a household than a king vessel.” Caacrinolaas retracted his claws lazily, just to show there’s no threat to him around. _

_ “He is my choice and you will lend your powers to him.” _

_ “…It’s almost a shame that you’re a magi. You hold great potential for a king vessel. But… I’ll respect your choice. I’m tired of waiting in this dungeon all day.” The bestial djinn yawned and Judar wanted to throw the spear right into one of its eight eyes but Hakuryuu placed his hand on Judar’s shoulder. The magi didn’t say anything but he understood. It didn’t matter how they gets the first metal vessel. All that matters is that he gets stronger. _

_ Judar huffed and let Caacrinolaas inhabit his spear.  _

Hakuryuu lets go of Judar’s shoulder, “You’ll get it soon enough. Otherwise I’ll just have to get rid of you.” He smirks at the end and Judar can’t help but to smile back.

“Yeah right, you’ll never be able to get rid of me.”

“Unfortunately.” The magi can talk with a very disappointed tone while grinning.

Judar’s smile falls as Hakuryuu walks out of view and he holds his spear horizontally to look at the eight-point star forever etched into the blade. It’s glowing softly but it’s just a sign that it’s just a tool to be used, a power to be borrowed. 

“What were you trying to tell me, you stupid djinn…” Judar mutters at the star emblem. Of course, it doesn’t answer. It’ll never answer. All he has is a faint moment too short with a djinn that doesn’t even respect him. No, he shouldn’t even bother to give a thought about it, fuck, it might have never even happened. Why would he have been in an empty space without Hakuryuu in between the moment of leaving the dungeon and coming back? It doesn’t make any sense. Yeah, Judar doesn’t need to think about it at all. It might stick onto the back of his head unpleasantly at moments but that’s nothing too hard to ignore.

_ “Ah. you’re here.” _

_ “Huh-?” Judar was sure he was falling off of a crumbling dungeon just a second ago, but now he’s just. Sitting here. On a completely white floor of a completely white space with only the beast of a djinn that barely accepted him. “Wait, shouldn’t I be back on Earth or something?” _

_ “You… you should.” Caacrinolaas scratches his head with a claw, “Well. I guess we have some time to talk since the magi isn’t here. I’ll be quick.” He said except he took the time to sit down in a refined pose, “I wouldn’t trust the magi if I were you.” _

_ “What. I thought you djinns were supposed to respect him, think he’s some great mage of creation and all that shit.”  _

_ “That’s… usually the case. But I remember you referring to him as “Your Highness” at some point.” _

_ “Uh, yeah.” What is this djinn going on about and wasting his time? “He’s a prince of Kou.” _

_ “That’s exactly the issue. A magi is supposed to be one who chooses a king, there is no way that one should be borne of royal blood. Something is off, king candidate. And I can’t do anything about it so I’m telling you to keep your eyes and ears open.” _

_ Judar frowns, “Oh, so you’re calling me a king candidate now? You were calling me a household just a second ago!” _

_ Caacrinolaas stands up to growl but forces himself to sit back down, “Tell me then. Did the magi choose you as a king candidate or for you to do his bidding?” _

Judar never had a chance to answer then, nor say anything else to understand what in the world Caacrinolaas was trying to tell him. The moment vanished so quickly. He can’t exactly ask Hakuryuu to summon the djinn for him either, considering, well, the issue was about the magi. All he has is the engraving of the eight point star, the reflection of his own blank, unreadable expression, and the centuries old cherry blossom, still rotting slowly from the inside out.

 

* * *

“I heard your retainer was able to conquer a dungeon.”

Hakuryuu’s jaw clenches at the sight of the woman who oversees his entire life. The woman who would dictate every step of his life from birth to death if she could. But she won’t. He won’t let her. No matter the cost.

She smiles and continues, “I’m glad you’re starting to take initiative, though I would have preferred if you did this with your brothers earlier.”

“Cousins.” Hakuryuu snaps. Gyokuen places a hand on his shoulder, only for him to swat it away. “I don’t see why I would want to freely raise dungeons for them. Judar’s my retainer and I can’t create a household so I need a metal vessel for him if I want him to be of any use.”

“Hm… is that so.” She hums in a tone between playful and homicidal, “How very mature of you to do that for yourself. As expected of my favorite child.” 

Hakuryuu wants to say something to snap back at her. Something like you say that to everyone, except she doesn’t. She truly feels favoritism towards him, whatever her twisted version of favoritism is. She’ll tell him she loves him, and when he tells her she doesn’t know what that means, she’ll smile and tell him he doesn’t know either. 

“I hope you don’t favor him too much though, family always comes first.” The venom that drips from her words are stronger than anything Caacrinolaas can taint, “The djinn that you raised for Judar seems quite strong for combat, I’m sure that would suffice.”

Hakuryuu’s not sure why she ever cared about what he did so long as it didn’t interfere with what she wanted. As long as he plays the role of his mother’s son when it suited her the best, “Of course not. But the others seem to be doing just fine with the djinns that they have. And Kouen already has three.”

Gyokuen stares at him.

Hakuryuu stares back.

“...Did I also mention that you’ve grown up to be so pretty?” She pats him on the cheek but he refuses to give her anything other than a dead, cold stare, “Sorry. I mean handsome. Such a strong, handsome young man. I know I can trust you when Kou needs your powers,” Hakuryuu wants to stab her, crush her, burn her alive when her mouth curls up like that. He wants to hear her pain, feel the bones inside her snap and watch her limbs fall limp before it gets crushed beyond recognition.

Instead she walks away, a full line of those veiled magic puppets following behind her. It’d be so easy to cast a spell, try to wipe all those despicable puppets all at once and then aim straight for the old witch’s head. Except it won’t work. It never works. Every time he’s tried to do something even slightly malevolent, Gyokuen would stop him in his tracks with that gelatin smile slathered on her face and ask why he’s doing this. And every time his mind would go blank, the echoes of hatred still reverberating down to his fingers, but with no words to manifest it. Even now, as Hakuryuu stares at the old witch walk away, he feels like his mind is about to leave his body.

He makes the servants prepare a bath for him that night. Once he lets himself soak in the hot water, his thoughts start to regain coherence. It’s all that dark magic the organization used on him when he was younger, all those things they did for the sake of “making him stronger.” All it did was make it harder to focus without losing himself, makes it harder to remember all the details he plans out so he either has to rely on Judar or his own notes. He starts scrubbing himself with an exfoliating towel.

Judar. Hakuryuu has no doubt that his retainer will get over the hump with Caacrinolaas soon. After all, they both run off of spite, off an overwhelming need to get stronger, to prove someone wrong. It’s what keeps them from lying down and never getting up again. But while Hakuryuu’s shitty memory forces him to try, stop, take notes, and try again, accumulating details here and there, scattered like puzzle pieces that are only solved in clumps but never united together, Judar just goes. He charges once he has a target and doesn’t bother with shit like stopping and contemplating. 

“It’s your job to ruminate about difficult things, just tell me what you decide in the end.” He’d always say. And Hakuryuu would always yank at Judar’s braid in response. It’s amusing how many different little habits of interaction they’ve formed over the years. Sure, he’d yank Judar’s hair like that when the retainer makes a slightly annoying comment, but Hakuryuu always used two tugs to wake Judar up when they were little kids and it was still okay for them to sleep in the same room. And Judar would always flick the temple of Hakuryuu’s head when he starts to space out too much, and yes it always hurts more than the retainer intended, but it does the job.

He doesn’t let himself indulge in those thoughts for long. Now that Judar has a metal vessel, they don’t have time for nonsense like that. One metal vessel means only one kind of magic, which, while acid water and toxins can be versatile, it’s still severely limited. As soon as Judar can properly execute a djinn equip, Hakuryuu will have to raise another dungeon for him, or perhaps send him off to one of the dungeons still standing idly, waiting for the right vessel to take them. 

Hakuryuu scrubs his arms until they’re bright red and almost ready to bleed. Right. Vessel. He can’t afford to give any thought about Judar except planning ways to make him stronger. He needs the perfect vessel, one that could take on any member of his family. Even Kouen. Even Gyokuen. 

His legs and torso are also scrapped red, and it almost works well enough to scrape all the other distractions too. He doesn’t have time for sentimentalism. Judar will be powered up to be the perfect vessel, and it’ll be through him that they can purge the organization from Kou. Only then will he feel freed of the role of his mother’s son, his mother’s magi.


End file.
